Saudi Sport Ministry Unveils 2026–2027 Club Support Plan

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Sport has launched the Sport Clubs Support Strategy for the 2026–2027 season, marking the eighth year of its club support program. The new edition focuses on strengthening institutional performance, financial and administrative sustainability, and community participation across the Kingdom's clubs.

The 2026–2027 strategy is built around seven key initiatives: direct support, multi-sport participation, governance, fan attendance, facility development, digital transformation, and increasing commercial revenues. Support is calculated on a performance-based model, where each club's funding envelope reflects its governance compliance, involvement in non-football sports, fan attendance figures, facility upgrades, digital progress, and commercial revenue growth.

How the funding breaks down

The direct support initiative carries a total of SAR 953 million, while the various sports (non-football) initiative is allocated SAR 517 million. The governance initiative is worth SAR 541 million and covers 103 clubs, and the fan attendance initiative is funded with SAR 99 million. The commercial revenues growth initiative totals SAR 54 million, providing SAR 1 million 000

A club that meets all the requirements of the strategy can receive total support ranging between SAR 100 million and SAR 120 million.

Why it matters for communities: the strategy encourages clubs to expand into neighborhood and community programs, broaden their multi-sport offerings, improve match-day experiences, and build commercial partnerships that strengthen local engagement. Since the program first launched in 2019, Saudization in sports clubs has reached 73% of the workforce, reflecting growing local employment opportunities within the sector.

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